Boom of Block Parties Brings Power to the People

Simplicity. It’s the maxim behind many a success, and now San Francisco’s transportation agency has followed suit, streamlining the permit application for single-block party events and watching them multiply.

With some help from a nonprofit, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) trimmed the 13-page application down to three pages in 2011, and since then the city has seen its highest number of block parties yet, with applications rising by more than 25 percent in the last two years.

“It’s a vast improvement,” said Kearstin Krehbiel, executive director of the nonprofit SF Beautiful, about changes to the block party application. “Not only for San Francisco communities and neighborhoods working to build communities, but for the entire city.” READ MORE HERE